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Craig Schneider and Laura Diamond

ATLANTA — College rankings are so important to the Taylor family that even fifth-grader Lauren studies them. The Atlanta girl, who dreams of oceangoing trips in research vessels, already has narrowed her search to a few schools.

Her dad, Winston Taylor Jr., said the family finds rankings useful but also takes them with a grain of salt. The father of three, including a high school sophomore, said he suspected the rankings were flawed even before Emory University disclosed last week that it intentionally submitted inflated data for them.